Is private equity co-opting employee ownership?

In April, a splashy ad appeared in the New York Times announcing a new nonprofit, Ownership Works. The nonprofit is a collaboration between 60 organizations including private equity, philanthropic leaders, banks, pension funds, and worker advocates. The nonprofit will help companies structure and roll out broad-based equity programs that include all employees, from the CEO down to the shop floor. The goal is to create $20 billion in wealth over ten years for workers who have generally been an afterthought in the business of buying and selling companies.

At Employee Ownership News, we approached this new initiative with some skepticism. Private equity is not known for its sympathy for workers. So we reached out to a dozen people in the employee ownership field to hear their reactions. We’ve now put together multiple voices in a series of posts that will begin today, May 19. Today, we set out to frame the issues with several posts, including:

• Our introduction: Is Private Equity about to Co-opt Employee Ownership?
• Are the Barbarians at the Gate, a three-part commentary by Marjorie Kelly and Karen Kahn that challenges the notion that Ownership Works is granting employees ownership
• Enter the Dragon? A commentary from Jim Bonham, president of the ESOP Association, raising concerns regarding protections for workers
• Can We Call This Employee Ownership?, by Ian MacFarlane, president of EA Engineering, a 100 percent employee-owned consulting firm

To see these posts — and those that follow the week of May 22 — you will need to visit Employee Ownership News at www.employeeownership.news. We will be winding down our Medium presence, and hope you will continue to follow us by subscribing at our website to our newsletter.

Thank you for your continued interest in all things employee ownership!